CHAOS IN WASHINGTON: Obama Calls On Congress To Pass Short Term Spending Bill As Negotiations Stall

President Barack Obama's brinkmanship strategy over the payroll
tax cut and a bill to fund the government after Friday appears to
have fallen apart.

An email from White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer
sent to reporters Wednesday night calls on congress to shelve the
$1 trillion funding measure, saying Obama has "significant
concerns" about the bill. Instead, Obama urged Congress to
proceed with another short-term continuing resolution — without
which, much of the federal government will shut down early
Saturday morning.

Pfeiffer said the current spending bill includes
"provisions that would undermine Wall Street reforms, enact
extreme social and ideological riders, undercut environmental
protections, and threaten the foreign policy prerogatives of the
President."

"Mitch McConnell says Harry Reid should talk to John Boehner. Reid says he wants to talk to
Boehner to hash out a compromise on extending the payroll tax
holiday and jobless benefits. But Boehner first wants Reid to
show his hand by actually passing something."

Indeed, if it weren't for the horrors of the
debt ceiling stand-off this summer, this development would be
shocking. Instead, it appears to be the new normal: House and
Senate leaders squabble with the White House and each other to
pass legislation they both agree is vital.

Boehner appears ready to pass the spending bill unamended on
Friday, just hours before the shutdown deadline — and force
Democrats to take it or leave it. His office has yet to respond
to the White House's call for a short-term bill to allow time to
reopen negotiations.

On the payroll tax cut, Democrats have yet to scrap the
millionaire's surtax that Republicans say has got to go, and the
GOP is still pushing the Keystone XL pipeline issue that Obama
wants off the table.